H Is for Hawaii which started the year for us. Margaret
(Makaleka) had a job there and I (Kimokeo) accompanied her. Our visit was
limited to the island of Oahu due to time constraints. We spent Sunday getting
to know the beach near the
Ilikai Hotel on
Waikiki Beach where we were staying
and by taking a trolley tour around the city of Honolulu. Monday morning we
left early on a tour which took us to
Pearl Harbor, Crossroads of the Pacific. It
was a most interesting experience seeing the USS Arizona Memorial, the
Bowfinsubmarine, the
U.S.S. Missouri and the
U.S.S. Oklahoma memorial. Tuesday while
Margaret worked I went back to the
Diamond Head Crater and climbed to the top
so that I could get the spectacular views of Waikiki Beach. The trail isn’t
that long but it is 560 feet above the crater floor and involves climbing 271
steps through a narrow spiral staircase inside an unlit bunker. I gave a
donation to an organization that maintains the trail and received a certificate
and a T-shirt as a summit club member. While in Honolulu we also visited the austere
State Capitol and the ornate
Iolani Royal Palace. The last couple of days we
had a rental car so were able to visit the
Dole Plantation and go to
Oahu’s NorthShore where we saw magnificent surfing and ate some awesome garlic shrimp,
fresh from the shrimp farm next to the food trucks parked on the shore. We also
attended a
luau at Paradise Cove and on Friday before catching our flight home
visited the
Polynesian Cultural Center. That was the only day that it rained so
crimped some of our visit. One of the highlights of our visit was being able to
visit Melfried Olson and his wife Judy. He is a friend from high school days in
Regan, ND. At the end of June we saw them again here in AZ after they attended
a conference in Chandler. To reciprocate their hospitality we took them to the
Heard Museum and the
Brazilian Bull Steakhouse in Chandler.
A is for
April when I traveled to Oregon to help my “adopted” aunt Betty Waite celebrate
her 90th birthday. Betty, a life-long Oregonian, and my aunt
LouElla, who transplanted from North Dakota, taught school and lived together
for many years in Brookings on the Oregon coast. The occasion afforded several
of us “Kurle” cousins to get together for the first time in many years.
P is for
people in our lives who give it meaning. In January my cousin Eldo Johnson
slipped on the ice in North Dakota and cracked a rib. That fall and its
aftermath kept him in the hospital for two months and just about the time that
we thought that he was on the mend he died at age 76 on March 20
th,
in the waning hours of winter. I traveled to North Dakota for his funeral. He
was an avid gardener and it was appropriate when his wife Marilyn had a wreath
made of vegetables made up and placed on his casket. In July they held an
auction to clean out much “stuff” that was also one of Eldo’s passions,
“collecting.” The auction, which Marilyn
dubbed “the
first annual Eldo Johnson memorial auction,” lasted six hours. Another
one is planned for this coming summer.
P is for
more people who are important to us. In June Margaret’s sister Carol visited us
for Margaret’s birthday and they enjoyed a
Billy Joel concert in Phoenix. In
September Margaret traveled to up state NY to be with her sister Carol and
cousins Beth Newcomb and Catherine White. They spent a weekend at a
YMCA campas part of a Women’s Adventure weekend. They went kayaking, did archery, mountain
biked and just enjoyed the camaraderie of their 3
rd annual girls’
weekend. It was a great opportunity to meet Carol’s friends and visit her
nephew Frank. Carol and Margaret relaxed at
Spa Mirbeau after “roughing” it at
the Y. Margaret also visited
Fort Stanwix and
Saint Marianne Cope Shrine &Museum located in Syracuse. St. Marianne Cope is the 11
th American
saint; she was a leader of health care in NY and devoted 35 years to caring of
Hansen’s disease patients in Molokai, Hawaii.
Y is for the
year in volunteering for both of us. Last year I said that I was
“semi-retired.” That meant that I did
tax work as a volunteer through VITA (
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) set up
by the IRS and administered through Catholic Community Services. I worked at
the Pio Decimo Center and Fellowship Square assisted living center. At both
locations but especially at Fellowship Square I met some very interesting
individuals. Margaret continued her volunteering efforts with
LiteracyVolunteers teaching English to non-native adults and Market on the Move which
has been renamed
POW WOW (Produce On Wheels Without Waste).
H is for home
remodeling which was also on our agenda for the year. We spent a good part of
May and June gathering information and bids on a project which included
re-plumbing our 60 year old house with galvanized pipes that were susceptible
to begin leaking. We also decided that while everything was torn up we might as
well “modernize” our 1950s kitchen and laundry room! The
project got underway on
September 2
nd and was completed by October 3
rd. We both
have enjoyed working in the
new kitchen.
O if for other
opportunities for Margaret’s work in all parts of Arizona and around the
country. She traveled 45,190 miles to 48 cities; 30 trips totaling 110 days on
the road! She has been fortunate to visit family in various locales along the
way. She is always looking to connect with people in places she travels for
work; there is little joy in eating alone in a restaurant!
L is for life
changing events. In August Margaret and I attended the wedding of Rachel Dakota
Remele, my late cousin Larry’s and Ann Rathke’s daughter. She and Shane Lauinger
were married in Minneapolis on August 23
rd in an outdoor venue at
Water Power Park. A great reception was held following the ceremony at
Vic’sDining. Earlier in the day cousin Ruthann Remele, Margaret and I spent some
time at the
Minnesota State Fair. On my
way to the Twin Cities I stopped in
Dorset, MN, to see Margaret’s mother,
Betty, and her uncle, Mike Kempnich. At the end of August we got word that the
Companeros Restaurant operated by Mike’s son Rick burned to the ground during a
thunderstorm. The Mexican restaurant located in the fishing lakes area of east
central Minnesota has been the anchor business of the little town of Dorset
during the last 30 years. It had also been the focus of great family get-togethers
in recent years especially during the Taste of Dorset the first Sunday of
August. In November, over the Veteran’s Day weekend, Margaret traveled to
Florida to attend the wedding of her brother Mark and welcome Cathy to the
family. Cousin Beth also flew down from Boston for the ceremony. It was a
casual and fun event at Mark and Cathy’s house for everyone who attended. All
of Margaret’s siblings came for the event so it was the first time that they were
together since their father’s funeral in 2003. It was a great opportunity to
also see her cousin Julie and meet the niece-in-laws and the newest addition to
the Fairfield family, Mason who was born in early September.
I is for “itinerate.” The dictionary definition is “to travel from
place to place on a circuit.” Since I
travel to North Dakota in the summers, (this year in July and August) work at
my farm on various projects and try to see people I have known for many years,
the definition is apt. This year I cleaned up a mess created when an early
season snow storm last year caused the porch, which had been a setting in past
years for great family photos, to fall away from the house. I hauled all that
debris out and patched and painted the walls. I also trimmed trees and mowed
the garden patch where cousin Eldo grew his wonderful garden produce for many
years. It was disheartening to see that plot lay fallow and revert to a weed
patch this year. I also missed our trips to town for lunch when he was working
in his garden.
D is for our
days in Tucson or more specifically for our “days of heat” during the summer. One
thing we learned is that Tucson is not a good place to raise potatoes. While I
was in ND for cousin Eldo’s funeral Margaret planted left over potatoes which I
had brought back last year from his garden. We planted them as a memorial
garden and enjoyed the fruits of our labors.
A is for
appreciation of our day to day friends and relationships here in Tucson. We
also appreciate the diversity of cultural experiences in southern Arizona such
as the
Tucson Symphonic Winds performances at
Udall Park in the spring and
fall;
Tucson Symphony Orchestra Pops; hiking; and Civil War re-enactments.
Y is for the
year to come. We welcome friends and family and hope to foster new
relationships in 2015 and show off our remodeled home.
S is simply
for Season’s Greetings. May you find comfort and meaning in your lives with
friends and family. If we listen to the news we can become depressed what with
all the upheavals occurring in the world; continued unrest in the Middle East, Ebola
in Africa as well as events here at home. But we have to have Hope and Faith
that the problems that plaque humanity can be resolved. May we all reflect
positively on the Reason for the Season.
